The Language and Immunization for Kids Study (LINKS): Identifying Public Health Strategies to Engage Families Who Prefer a Language Other Than English in Childhood Vaccine Uptake
Statement of Problem
As child health researchers and physicians, we know childhood immunization programs and coalitions are among our nation’s most important and effective child health interventions. These programs ensure children receive protection from potentially life-threatening conditions such as measles, polio and hepatitis B. They help children in every U.S. county, parish, borough, state, and territory, even if children are uninsured or families lack the ability to pay.
Ensuring childhood immunization programs remain strong and can continue to reach all children is a child health priority. This includes attention to language access—most often referring to interpreting (spoken, sign language) and translation (written).
Research suggests there may be uneven childhood vaccine coverage for children in some language communities. Similarly, National Immunization Survey data suggests children ages 19-35 months and born outside the U.S. may have lower rates of selected vaccination coverage than other U.S. children.
This may be a sign of gaps in vaccine outreach, education and delivery in languages spoken by families in those communities. And our team’s quality improvement work suggests language access remains a significant barrier to childhood vaccination education and access.
Description
We know solutions exist.
Co-investigator Dr. Elizabeth Dawson-Hahn, a University of Washington pediatrician and public health researcher, and her team identified numerous public health case studies describing strategies for promoting vaccine access among communities who speak languages other than English.
With this project, we aim to systematically describe and share successful strategies that childhood immunization programs and coalitions have used to reach families who speak languages other than English.
To collect this information, we are conducting a national survey of childhood immunization programs and immunization coalitions.
Next Steps
By hearing directly from programs and coalitions, we hope to learn from their on-the-ground experience in our efforts to ensure children whose families speak languages other than English are included in vaccine outreach, education and delivery.
We also hope to document shared challenges that may benefit from policy changes or prioritization from funders focused on promoting child health.
We plan to share results in fall 2025.
This project page was last updated in February 2025.
Suggested Citation
Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, PolicyLab. The Language and Immunization for Kids Study (LINKS): Identifying Public Health Strategies to Engage Families Who Prefer a Language Other Than English in Childhood Vaccine Uptake [Online]. Available at: http://www.policylab.chop.edu [Accessed: plug in date accessed here].